Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pftt2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-09T19:09:11.923Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Politics, Privileges, and Loyalty in the Zimbabwe National Army

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2017

Godfrey Maringira
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

In postcolonial Africa, the military has become an actor in politics, often in ways that can be described as unprofessional. This paper focuses on the manner in which the Zimbabwean National Army (ZNA) has become heavily politicized since independence, directly supporting the regime of President Robert Mugabe while denigrating the opposition political party. The military metamorphosed, to all intents, into an extension of President Mugabe’s political party, the ZANU-PF. I argue that even though the military is expected to subordinate itself to a civilian government, the ZNA is highly unprofessional, in- and outside the army barracks. The ways in which politics came to be mediated by army generals, as “war veterans” serving in the military, directly influenced not only how soldiers who joined the army in postindependence Zimbabwe were promoted and demoted, but how they lived their lives as soldiers in the army barracks. This article is based on fifty-eight life histories of army deserters living in exile in South Africa.

Résumé:

Dans l’Afrique postcoloniale, l’armée est devenue un acteur politique, qui peut être souvent décrit comme non professionnel. Cet article se focalise sur la manière dont l’armée nationale du Zimbabwe (ZNA) est devenue fortement politisée depuis l’indépendance, se transformant, de fait, comme une extension du parti politique du Président Robert Mugabe, le ZANU-PF et dénigrant l’opposition. Faisant appel à des histoires vécues de cinquante-huit déserteurs de l’armée en exil en Afrique du Sud, cet article décrit les manières dont les affaires politiques au Zimbabwe sont médiés par les généraux de l’armée, comme « vétérans de guerre » servant dans l’armée. Cette situation influence directement non seulement comment les soldats qui ont rejoint l’armée au Zimbabwe postindépendance sont promus et rétrogradés, mais aussi comment ils vivent leur vie comme soldats dans les casernes de l’armée.

Keywords

Army desertersmilitary professionalismpoliticswar veteransoldiersZimbabwe
Type
ARTICLES
Information
African Studies Review , Volume 60 , Issue 2 , September 2017 , pp. 93 - 113
Copyright
Copyright © African Studies Association 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Alao, Abiodun. 1995. “The Metamorphosis of the ‘Unorthodox’: The Integration and Early Development of the Zimbabwe National Army.” In Soldiers in Zimbabwe’s Liberation War, edited by Bhebe, Ngwabi and Ranger, Terence, 104–17. London: James Currey.Google Scholar
Alao, Abiodun. 2012. Mugabe and the Politics of Security in Zimbabwe. London: McGill-Queens University Press.Google Scholar
Albrecht, Holger, and Bishara, Dina. 2011. “Back on Horseback: The Military and Political Transformation in Egypt.” Middle East Law & Governance 3: 13–23.Google Scholar
Alexander, Jocelyn. 1998. “Dissident Perspectives on Zimbabwe’s Post-independence War, Africa.” Journal of the International Africa Institute 68 (2): 151–82.Google Scholar
Barany, Zoltan. 2011. “Comparing the Arab Revolts: The Role of the Military.” Journal of Democracy 22 (4): 28–39.Google Scholar
Barany, Zoltan. 2012. The Soldier and the Changing State: Building Democratic Armies in Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Bill, James. 1969. “The Military and Modernisation in the Middle East.” Comparative Politics 2 (1): 41–62.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre. 1990. The Logic of Practice. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Caforio, Giuseppe. 2007. “Introduction: The Interdisciplinary and Cross-National Character of Social Studies on the Military—The Need for Such an Approach.” In Social Sciences and the Military: An Interdisciplinary Overview, edited by Caforio, G., 1–20. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Chitiyo, Knox. 2009. The Case for Security Sector Reform in Zimbabwe. London: Royal United Services Institute.Google Scholar
Chung, Fay. 2006. Re-living the Second Chimurenga: Memories from the Liberation Struggle in Zimbabwe. Stockholm: Nordic African Institute.Google Scholar
Crouch, Harold. 1979. “Patrimonialism and Military Rule in Indonesia.” World Politics 31 (4): 571–87.Google Scholar
Dandeker, Christopher, et al. 2006. “What’s in a Name? Defining and Caring for ‘Veterans’: The United Kingdom in International Perspective.” Armed Forces & Society 32 (2): 161–77.Google Scholar
Finer, Samuel. 1962. The Man on Horseback: The Role of the Military in Politics. London: Pall Mall Press.Google Scholar
Goffman, Erving. 1961. Asylums. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Harb, Imad. 2003. “The Egyptian Military in Politics: Disengagement or Accommodation?” Middle East Journal 57 (2): 269–90.Google Scholar
Harris, George. 1965. “The Role of the Military in Turkish Politics.” Middle East Journal 19 (1): 54–66.Google Scholar
Higate, Paul, and Cameron, Ailsa. 2006. “Reflexivity and Researching the Military.” Armed Forces & Society 32 (2): 219–33.Google Scholar
Huntington, Samuel. 1957. The Soldier and the State: The Theory and Politics of Civil-Military Relations. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Ikpe, Ukana. 2000. “Patrimonalism and Military Regimes in Nigeria.” African Journal of Political Science 5 (1): 146–62.Google Scholar
Independent Foreign Service. 2009. “Zimbabwe Army Chief ‘Won’t Allow Change of Power.’” www.newzimbabwe.com.Google Scholar
Jackson, Paul. 2011. “The Civil War Roots of Military Domination in Zimbabwe: The Integration Process Following the Rhodesian War and the Road to ZANLA Dominance.” Civil Wars 13 (4): 371–95.Google Scholar
Janowitz, Morris. 1960. The Professional Soldier: A Social and Political Portrait. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Kamrava, Mehran. 2000. “Military Professionalization and Civil–Military Relations in the Middle East.” Political Science Quarterly 115 (1): 67–92.Google Scholar
Karawan, Ibrahim. 2011. “Politics and the Army in Egypt.” Survival 52 (2): 43–50.Google Scholar
Kasasira, Risdel. 2014. “Who Is Who? List of UPDF Top Brass and What They Do.” Daily Monitor, Kampala, November 27. www.monitor.co.ug.Google Scholar
Kohn, Richard. 1997. “How Democracies Control the Military.” Journal of Democracy 8 (4): 140–53.Google Scholar
Kohn, Richard. 2009. “Tarnished Brass: Is the U.S. Military Profession in Decline?” World Affairs 171 (4): 73–83.Google Scholar
Kriger, Norma. 2003. “Zimbabwe: Political Constructions of War Veterans.” Review of African Political Economy 30 (96): 323–28.Google Scholar
Lutterbeck, Derek. 2013. “Arab Uprisings, Armed Forces, and Civil–Military Relations.” Armed Forces & Society 39 (1): 28–52.Google Scholar
Mambo, Elias. 2016. “Mugabe Remarks Expose Military.” April 15. www.theindependent.co.zw.Google Scholar
Masunungure, Eldred. 2011. “Zimbabwe’s Militarized, Electoral Authoritarianism.” Journal of International Affairs 65 (1): 47–64.Google Scholar
Maringira, Godfrey. 2015. “When the War De-Professionalises Soldiers: Wartime Stories in Exile.” Journal of Southern African Studies 41 (6): 1315–29.Google Scholar
Mazarire, Gerald. 2011. “Discipline and Punishment in ZANLA: 1964–1979.” Journal of Southern African Studies 37 (3): 571–91.Google Scholar
McGreal, Chris. 2008. “‘We Will Not Let Mugabe Be Beaten,’ Police and Army Chiefs Warn.” The Guardian, March 15. www.theguardian.com.Google Scholar
Mhanda, Wilfred. 2011. Dzino: Memories of a Freedom Fighter. Harare: Weaver Press.Google Scholar
Moskos, Charles C., Williams, John Allen, and Segal, David R., eds. 2000. The Postmodern Military: Armed Forces after the Cold War. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Murphy, William. 2003. “Military Patrimonalism and Child Soldier Clientalism in the Liberian and Sierra Leonean Civil Wars.” African Studies Review 46 (2): 61–87.Google Scholar
Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Sabelo. 2009. “Making Sense of Mugabeism in Local and Global Politics: ‘So Blair, Keep Your England and Let Me Keep My Zimbabwe.’” Third World Quarterly 30 (6): 1139–58.Google Scholar
Nordlinger, Eric. 1977. Soldiers in Politics: Military Coups and Governments. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Perlmutter, Amos. 1969. “The Praetorian State and the Praetorian Army: Toward a Taxonomy of Civil–Military Relations in Developing Polities.” Comparative Politics 1 (3): 382–404.Google Scholar
Pitcher, Anne, Moran, Mary, and Johnston, Michael. 2009. “Rethinking Patrimonialism and Neopatrimonialism in Africa.” African Studies Review 52 (1): 125–56.Google Scholar
Ranger, Terence. 2004a. “Nationalist Historiography, Patriotic History and the History of the Nation: The Struggle over the Past in Zimbabwe.” Journal of Southern African Studies 30 (2): 215–34.Google Scholar
Ranger, Terence. 2004b. “The Uses and Abuses of History in Zimbabwe.” Paper presented at the conference “Looking to the Future: Social, Political and Cultural Space in Zimbabwe,” Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala, May 24–26.Google Scholar
Rubin, Barry. 2001. “The Military in Contemporary Middle East Politics.” Middle East Review of International Affairs 5 (1): 47–63.Google Scholar
Rupiya, Martin. 2011. “The Military Factor in Zimbabwe’s Political and Electoral Affairs.” www.swradioafrica.com.Google Scholar
Sapa-dpa. 2008. “Army Must Vote Against Tsvangirai.” May 31. www.politicsweb.co.za.Google Scholar
Sarkesian, Sam, and Conor, Robert Jr. 2006. The US Military Profession into the Twenty-First Century: War, Peace and Politics. 2nd edition London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Tachau, Frank, and Heper, Metin. 1983. “The State, Politics, and the Military in Turkey.” Comparative Politics 16 (1): 17–33.Google Scholar
Tendi, Miles. 2008. “Patriotic History and Public Intellectuals Critical of Power.” Journal of Southern African Studies 34 (2): 379–96.Google Scholar
Tendi, Miles. 2013. “Ideology, Civilian Authority and the Zimbabwean Military.” Journal of Southern African Studies 39 (4): 829–43.Google Scholar
Tripp, Aili Mari. 2010. Museveni’s Uganda: Paradoxes of Power in a Hybrid Regime. Vol. 6. Boulder, Colo.: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
Ulio, James. 1941. “Military Morale.” American Journal of Sociology 47 (3): 312–30.Google Scholar
Voice of America. 2011. “Zimbabwe Army Chief Calls Prime Minister Tsvangirai a Security Threat.” www.voazimbabwe.com.Google Scholar
Weber, Max. 1978. Economy and Society: An Outline of Interpretive Sociology. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Weingrod, Alex. 1968. “Patrons, Patronage, and Political Parties.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 10 (4): 377–400.Google Scholar
White, Louise. 2007. “Whoever Saw a Country with Four Armies?: The Battle of Bulawayo Revisited.” Journal of Southern African Studies 33 (3): 619–31.Google Scholar
Woodward, Rachel, and Jenkings, Neil. 2011. “Military Identities in the Situated Accounts of British Military Personnel.” Sociology 45 (2): 252–68.Google Scholar
Young, Eric. 1997. “Chefs and Worried Soldiers: Authority and Power in the Zimbabwe National Army.” Armed Forces & Society 24 (1): 133–49.Google Scholar